Monday 31 August 2015

Colonel Mustard

I've some white mustard growing in a couple of areas of the garden so thought it might be fun to try making actual proper mustard. Once the pods are dry they should split into two hulks and a filament holding the seeds. There are several much simpler ways of obtaining mustard, but this is mine

Friday 28 August 2015

A Thing of Beauty

Even though I say so myself, this gate sequencer is a thing of beauty. It took approximately twelve years to get to this stage but it was worth the wait. I decided to rack it up in my shallow case with the quad logic modules (that are also CatGirlSynth). I could have squeezed this into a 3U panel (this is actually 5Ux5U) but part of the ethos of my own panel designs is the use of space

Thursday 27 August 2015

It Lives ! (Part Two)

Finished the Gate Sequencer at last and it worked first time (and why wouldn't it). There's a lot of tidying up to do, and now I really do need another cabinet...

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Soldering On...

The Gate Sequencer - something like 300+ connections to solder.
Must...
Keep...
Going...

[edit] I wish I'd just decided to go with the two channel version

Monday 24 August 2015

And So It Begins...

Here's the panel for the CatGirlSynth Gate Sequencer this morning as I started to lay out the grid for the switches, LEDs and jacks. I think there are 76 holes to be drilled in all - oh joy...

Sunday 23 August 2015

Saturday 22 August 2015

Random Gates


I've been after this excellent module from Yves Usson (Yusynth via Bridechamber) for a while. The board itself is very simple but the wiring is a real task. I decided the supplied bracket was a little excessive as it would have made the module close to 200mm deep so I fabricated my own out of 30mm aluminium angle (designed as stair trim, I knew it would find a proper use one day). I also took the plunge and drilled out the panel to add Lumex rather than the supplied cheapo LEDs and of course replaced the switch for a flat toggle

Thursday 20 August 2015

Yet More Half Time Scores

Here's the view from the other side of the room. Middle row on the near right is one half of the dual Stroh Gene Splicer. On the left hand side of that row is a Barton QTLFO. On the bottom left of the picture is a YuSynth Random Gates module with custom bracket (more on that later, it needs wiring and testing)

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Half Time Scores

Here's how things looked a couple of days ago. Unfortunately most of the action is occuring in the distance in the end cabinet on the right. In recent weeks I've fixed around half the modules seeking attention and built a further six. I'm still waiting on a few parts to complete a 909 Clap, fix my ADV Snare and then I can start on the panel for the monster 5U (that's 5U wide) Gate Sequencer

Sunday 16 August 2015

Cabinet Eleven (Part One)

The time has come to seriously consider another cabinet - I've opted for 2x11U again. I have the ISEP extrusion in stock and I butchered a 1U 19" blank to make the side pieces of the chassis. I just need to source some more plastite screws and we're in business. Once the cabinet is complete, I'll need more modules to fill the empty space and the cycle continues...

Saturday 15 August 2015

Friends & Other Animals

I finally figured out the best place for my trailcam was right next to the pond. I'll get a photo of a fox most nights, but here we see a visiting cat as yet unseen here in the day. Meanwhile the five aquatic snails we bought a few months ago to keep the algae at bay have been busy. There's more algae than ever  but I counted 100+ tiny snails around the edge of the pond this week...   ... Yes that's a solar powered lighthouse

Thursday 13 August 2015

A Handy Attenuator

I needed to wire up an attenuator to test the pot values for my dual Stroh Gene Splicer. And as external attenuators are so useful, it clearly needed to look nice once the initital test was over. Here's a 100k pot in an old smoked paprika tin. The jacks are on the bottom.

Friday 7 August 2015

It Lives !

The CGS39 Quad Logic module won the day, and after correctly wiring the grounding wire it worked a treat. Next up was the Barton Dual Decaying Noise, which unfortunately was missing most of its capacitors

My favourite out of this batch is the Stroh Gene Splicer. Such a simple board, but with huge signal mangling potential. I popped a test board onto a cardboard panel and plugged in a couple of sine waves and a triangle LFO...   ...I'm putting two of these boards onto a panel with 100K attenuator pots over the inputs

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Decisions...

My Synthcube order turned up today, as did the remaining caps to finish a Hexinverter NeinOhNein Rimshot. Over at the back is a poorly CGS39 Quad Logic module which I might have figured out finally. Which shall I deal with first...?